Chapter 26: The Cave

I am analyzing one of my favorite chapters, The Cave, in which Harry and Dumbledore attempt to capture and destroy a Horcrux. I will give a summary with quotes that I feel are important, and at the end ask the questions that I feel most relevant and significant to the story. Please add more if you wish.

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      The chapter begins with Harry and Dumbledore apparating onto a cliff unreachable by any muggle or animal as it is surrounded by large waves and rocks. They enter a cave in which Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the young Tom Riddle brought his victims there for sadistic torture. As they walk deeper into the cave Dumbledore states that he senses magic. Likewise, "Harry could not tell whether the shivers he was experiencing were due to his spine-deep coldness or to the same awareness of enchantments" (US Edition, 557-8).

      Even further into the cave, Dumbledore realizes that to gain access to the Horcrux, blood must be given as payment, stating that "once again, Lord Voldemort fails to grasp that there are much more terrible things than physical injury" (559). Harry begs Dumbledore to let him give the blood because he is younger, but Dumbledore tells him that, "Your blood is worth more than mine" (560).

      After they gain entrance with Dumbledore's blood, they travel across the edge of the lake finally coming upon a boat that leads to the Horcrux in the middle of the lake. Though the boat looks small, and Dumbledore does conjecture that the boat could only handle one magical person at a time, Dumbledore does add that "I do not think you will count Harry: you are underage and unqualified…I think it is unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine" (564). Before they reach the middle of the lake, Harry finally comprehends that Voldemort placed Inferi (human corpses) in the water to protect his Horcrux, but Dumbledore tells him that, like all dark things, light (fire) will make them flee.

      After examining the stone basin in the middle of the lake in which the Horcrux is held, Dumbledore says that the only way to retrieve it would be to drink the greenish liquid in which the Horcrux is submerged. Once Dumbledore begins to drink, he seems to hallucinate for minutes on end, begging "I don't want…Don't make me…don't like…want to stop…It's all my fault, all my fault…Please make it stop, I know I did wrong, oh please make it stop and I'll never, never again…Don't hurt them, don't hurt them, please, please, it's my fault, hurt me instead…KILL ME!" (571-3).

      All the while, "Hating himself, repulsed by what he was doing, Harry forced the goblet back toward Dumbledore's mouth and tipped it, so that Dumbledore drank the remainder of the potion inside" (571). After he finished drinking the green liquid, Dumbledore thirsts for water, but the only water Harry is able to give him (since his "Aguamenti charm" does not work) is the water from the lake.

      He regains a bit of strength, but ends up much weaker before they came to the cave. Upon leaving the middle of the lake with the seeming locket Horcrux, Dumbledore fights off the attacking Inferi with a whirlwind of fire. To regain access outside of the cave, blood must again be given, but this time (without Dumbledore's permission) Harry uses his blood. Back on the seaside cliff, preparing the apparate back to Hogwarts, Dumbledore assures Harry that "I am not worried…I am with you" (578).

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QUESTIONS

How did Dumbledore even find the cave in the first place?

Does Harry feel strange shivers because he is just a wizard, or is there something deeper going on (such as if he was a Horcrux and Voldemort's soul within him senses another piece of his soul nearby)?

Can Harry's blood be worth more than Dumbledore's blood simply because of the prophecy? I believe that by using Harry's blood, Voldemort will somehow realize that his Horcruxes are being hunted due to his and Harry's connection.

Does the fact that Harry uses his blood to get out of the cave have any significance?

Do Harry's powers not "register" at the boat because he is underage like Dumbledore says, or is it because his scar is a Horcrux? In other words, if Voldemort ever needed to get his Horcrux from the middle of the lake, he would need someone to come with him to drink the green liquid- therefore, he would put an exception on the magic boat to not take Voldemort's soul (or any Horcrux) so that both Voldemort and his assistant could fit on the boat.

Whose point of view are Dumbledore's hallucinations coming from and to whom are they directed? Could it be from Snape to Voldemort after he found out that Voldemort would target the Potters at Godric's Hollow?

The fact that Harry felt repulsed at what he was doing exactly mirrors when "Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face" right before he was going to kill him (595). Is this a clue to Snape's innocence?

The theme that there are things worse than death figures prominently in the series, why do you think that Dumbledore stresses this so much, and how can it figure in the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort?

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If there are any more questions that I have not covered, please feel free to add them. Thanks for reading my analysis, so let the discussing begin!